Microsoft has offered voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees across the US, Canada, India and the UK, in one of its biggest workforce restructuring moves in recent years. The decision comes as the company continues to spend heavily on AI data centres and looks to keep costs under control.
The offer is open to eligible employees at level 70 and below. This includes many senior engineers, managers and vice-president-level staff. According to a person familiar with the matter, around 60,000 employees—more than a quarter of Microsoft’s total workforce—are eligible for the buyout.
What Microsoft Has Offered
Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman informed employees about the “Voluntary Exit Offer” through a company-wide memo on Monday. She said the programme is aimed at giving employees more flexibility as the company changes the way it works.
“The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we’re evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter,” Coleman wrote in the memo.
Employees who accept the offer will get a severance package broadly similar to Microsoft’s standard severance terms. The final amount will depend on factors such as the employee’s location, role and length of service.
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Which Teams Are Eligible?
The buyout programme covers select teams in the US, Canada, India and the UK. Reports suggest that employees from AI Experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Finance, Human Resources, Xbox and Windows + Devices are among those eligible.
However, not every employee will be able to opt for it. Some staff working in data centres, sales, marketing, cybersecurity and quantum computing are reportedly not part of the programme.
Why Microsoft Is Taking This Step
Microsoft is investing heavily in AI infrastructure to meet growing demand from customers such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Building and running AI data centres requires massive spending on servers, chips and computing capacity, which has increased pressure on the company to find savings in other areas.
The buyout offer comes months after Microsoft announced its first-ever voluntary retirement programme in April. That programme covered around 7% of the company’s US workforce. With the new offer, Microsoft appears to be following a similar approach—reducing headcount through voluntary exits instead of announcing immediate layoffs.
What It Means for Employees
For eligible staff, the offer gives two options: accept the severance package and leave the company, or continue in their current role. Microsoft has not said how many employees it expects to accept the buyout, nor has it disclosed the total cost of the programme.
Still, the sheer scale of the offer is significant. If a large number of employees accept it, Microsoft could reshape several teams without carrying out a traditional mass layoff.
What It Signals for Microsoft’s AI Plans
The move does not mean Microsoft is slowing down its AI plans. In fact, it points to the opposite. The company appears to be shifting resources towards areas it considers more important—AI infrastructure, Copilot products and cloud services—while cutting costs in other functions.
The development will be closely watched across the tech industry. Companies are under pressure to fund expensive AI buildouts while also keeping investors happy on profitability and cash flow. Microsoft’s latest step shows how big tech firms are trying to strike that balance without immediately resorting to forced job cuts.
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